Time to feel sorry for spammers?

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

In reading about Spam King Robert Soloway's release from prison, Lab Director John Breeden II finds he's a lot less angry at spammers than he used to be. Why?

Some big news in the tech world this week is that Spam King Robert Soloway was released from prison. This is the guy who admits sending more than a trillion spam e-mails back when he was operating his illegal business, gaining as much as $20,000 a day from his spamming profits. Perhaps a worse crime was that he hijacked other people’s computers to create spam zombies, forcing others to unwittingly help him perpetuate his crimes.

But he certainly paid for what he did, spending three years and nine months in federal prison. I note that almost four years behind bars is more than most criminals, even violent ones, spend for their crimes. He recently said in an interview in Wired Magazine that he had changed his ways and was going straight. Feds are skeptical of course, and they can monitor all his e-mails and website visits for the next three years, just to be sure.

The thing that I found odd about the Soloway story was that I actually felt a little bit sorry for the guy. Then when I went back and looked at previous columns I had written about spammers years ago, I found that I was much less sympathetic. In one piece, I talked about the "Fallout 2" computer game and a random encounter in which a group of villagers are beating a spammer to death out in the wasteland. I was so angry with spammers at the time that my character in the game happily joined in to put the scum down.

So why am I feeling sorry for a guy who spent a few years getting three meals a day in the federal pen? That’s surely better than the fate of spammers in Fallout’s wasteland.

I think it has to do with the role of spam today. Going back five or 10 years ago, there weren’t really too many good defenses against spam. Most people had no protection at all. When scanners for spam started to become more common, we found that all the ones the lab tested were content-based and very spotty. False positives were the worst problem. You couldn’t send an e-mail to your mother asking how her new prescription drugs were treating her, an invoice to one of your clients or a note to your publisher asking about advertising. All of them might get caught in the ubiquitous spam filter nets along the way. With so many false positives, most people simply did without any type of filter.

In that climate, inboxes filled up with so much spam that they almost became unusable while many legitimate messages were still being blocked. Spammers were killing a very cool technology with their greed. I even got angry with all the stupid people who bought Viagra — or some blue M&Ms they thought were that drug — from spam ads, which kept the spammers in business.

Simply put, I was mad as hell.

But these days spam, although still a problem, is mostly under control. Filters are much, much better, fed by central facilities that find new spam and block it on computers they protect. Challenge and response appliances, such as the Sendio ICE box that the lab uses, drop 99.99 percent of all spam before it even reaches the exchange server. One month alone, our Sendio dropped half a billion pieces of spam. That none got through says a lot.

Spam is becoming a quaint annoyance instead of a threat these days, kind of like those unwanted cruise ship ads that still come in once in a while via the fax machines of the world. As the threat decreases, so does my, and I think most people’s, anger toward spammers. As of right now, almost four years behind bars is an appropriate punishment. Let’s hope that Soloway learned something, and that his time will serve as a warning to those thinking of getting into this criminal enterprise.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.